On November 22, 1963 12:30 pm (CST), the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas while riding in a presidential motorcade in Dealy Plaza. President Kennedy was riding with his wife, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie Connally.
The perpetrator of the assassination was Lee Harvey Oswald a former US Marine and Marxist. According to four federal government investigations and one municipal investigation, Oswald shot and killed Kennedy from a sniper’s nest as the President traveled by motorcade through Dealey Plaza in the city of Dallas, Texas.
Texas Governor John Connally was riding in the same limousine in a seat directly in front of the President and three inches more to the left than Kennedy; he was also seriously injured, but survived. At 1:00 p.m., CST , the President was pronounced dead after all heart activity had ceased. A few minutes after 2:00 pm CST, the remains of Kennedy were taken from Parkland Hospital to Love Field. His casket was then loaded to the Air Force One. Vice President Johnson had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Dallas and was riding two cars behind the President in the motorcade. The new President refused to leave for Washington without the remains of Kennedy and his widow Jacqueline.
At 2:38 p.m. CST, Vice President Lyndon Johnson, with Jacqueline Kennedy at his side, took the oath of office that was administered by federal judge Sarah T. Hughes on board Air Force One shortly before it departed from Love Field for the flight back to Washington, D.C.